Books for a female

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bratch

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I'm thinking about getting a couple books for my girlfriend. She has mentioned taking the CCW course which is a good improvement over the recent past so I'd liek some literature.

I've got "Principles of Personal Defense" and "In the Gravest Extreme" that I could loan her. But are there any good books directed towards women?

Rant: I'm in total disagreement with Ayoob in his reccomendations for women. Stating ".45s are too powerful for small hands". My ladyfriend isn't on the large side and can handle my Kimber with great success. Just the old school coming out. Oh-well.
 
Armed and Female. I have read the book and recommend it. I recommend it in my NRA basic pistol class all the time.
 
Sounds like the answer and the price is right Gotta come up with a few more for me or her to reac $30 for free shipping.
 
Vicki Farnam and Diane Nicholl have authored a book that relates to teaching women to shoot. The target audience appears to be firearms trainers more than women shooters, but it may be helpful. I have not read the book, but it has been recommended to me:

http://www.defense-training.com/pubs/twts.html
 
Armed & Females getting a little long in the tooth. Not bad for mindset, not good for much else. But a pretty good place to start anyway.

But you should add to that Gila Hayes' book Effective Defense. Written specifically for women, it covers mindset, social issues, gun terminology basics, equipment selection, and tactics. She discusses handguns primarily, but does have one very good chapter about shotgun basics too. It was updated four or five years ago, so it's not too badly out of date yet.

Agree with you about Ayoob's comments re women in In the Gravest Extreme. Keep in mind the book was written a few years ago -- he's since changed his mind about some of that, I believe.

pax
 
Pax is right. "Armed & Female" is somewhat dated but still worth a read. Good on mindset but not so good on technique and has a slightly paranoid tilt.

"Effective Defense" is excellent but get the updated version. This book has it all and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Get "The Gift of Fear" by DeBecker. Not a manual of defensive shooting skills but an all-around tour of real life survival mindset skills. This is the kind of advice anyone can use to avoid problems in the first place. This is a really important book, in my opinion.

Get her involved with the Second Amendment Sisters - this is a great group for women.
 
Caveat on DeBecker's Gift of Fear -- he's got some anti-gun comments throughout the book and one chapter that is explicitly against. If your gf isn't already a convinced pro-gunny, there are better places to start.

Absolutely agree that it's a good book for mindset/awareness.

edited to add, I also agree with the suggestion to get a subscription to Women & Guns magazine. Good basic reading.

pax
 
Oh, I forgot about "Strong on Defense" and "Not an Easy Target"! Guess you know what I like to read.

Pax again was right that DeBecker is not exactly pro-gun but he's not exactly anti either. If your gal reads all these books everything will sort of reinforce each other.

"Strong on Defense" is also somewhat ambiguous about using a gun for protection but more in the sense that he points out the obvious drawbacks. Not anti but not a cheerleader either. It's a very good book overall.

"Not An Easy Target" is a little hard to characterize. It's less about self-defense than it is about coping strategies for the victims of crime. She covers things like dealing with stalkers and disappearing from abusive realtionships and avoiding rape. It's interesting reading but not immediately "tactical", if you know what I mean.

She should also check out /home.html

This guy has a lot of information on his site about self defense, particularly about the strategies that criminals use pick, bluff, and control victims.
 
Ginger mentioned a good web site. Try this one, too: http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com . It's Marc MacYoung's web site. He provides an overwhelming amount of information about mindset, personal protection, and self-defense choices.

Here's a sample, chosen nearly at random:
While avoiding becoming a victim can be relatively "easy," crime and violence are not simple problems.

If they were, they would have been solved a long time ago. Unfortunately, in this culture, there is a love for simplistic you-just-do-this answers. Unfortunately, most of what is presented to the public as answers to crime and violence problems are fantasy solutions. Solutions, that while they may sound good to the uninformed, will not keep you safe against the complex realities of crime, violence and their aftermath. In fact, much of what is taught is so one-dimensional that we feel it will actually increase your danger, both from the violent offender and the legal system.

Self-defense is not about being able to hit someone, nor what weapons you carry, nor is it about having an attitude the size of Los Angeles. It is a matter of life skills -- of knowledge, awareness, appropriate behavior and the ability to apply them on the spot.
Click to expand...

The section about potential rapists (http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/profile.html) would be well worth the cost of a book ... but it's free.

Like I said, well worth checking out.

pax
 
Wow. Thanks for all the good info. I'll have to pick a couple of them up.
 
Thanks again, Pax. I could do the link but not make it look cool. How lame is that?

I have one his books. It's not really super relevant for me but I was intrigued by his style and the fact that he admits very openly that people who go looking for trouble usually generate some.

His school is located here in Colorado.
 
Ginger, the link you put up works, but I'll tell you the truth -- I couldn't wrap my brain around it. It doesn't look like it should work! :D (You'd have laughed at me blinking stupidly at it. "It works?! How'd she do that?")

Lives nearby, hmmm? If you ever have a chance to take a class by MacYoung, it's worth thinking about. I took a two-day knife defense class from him last year, and found it well worthwhile. It wasn't "women's self-defense" (I was one of two women in the class), but he made a pretty good effort at remembering that not all of us were right-handed males and tailored the class accordingly. Very engaging speaker and it was fun to watch him think out loud. He's one of those people who, if you ask a question, starts talking in circles for several minutes while his brain's working. Eventually he circles back around and gets to your answer, but the way he gets there is pretty intriguing.

He's written a bunch of books, I guess, but I can't think of one specifically for women, offhand. Some of his earlier books are ... um, harsh. Kind of raspy around the edges.

pax

I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand. -- Susan B. Anthony
 
Over the years, I have been inteested in the books written for females,

because I figured,

if it works for them,

it will certainly work for me.

and now I consider,

that the converse must certainly also be true.

If Sam Colt made all men equal,

then that must certainly hold true for women as well.

the best thing your lady can do is to hand some scrote the

surprise of his deficiently inbred young life,

(a wish before dying),

so I say, don't limit her to books written for women.

she just might be "a contenda".
 
Texian Pistolero ~

You're right, in a lot of ways ... and wrong in others.

Books about self-defense written by and for men tend to focus on hardware. All those exciting tech specs are fascinating to a lot of guys -- but are completely and utterly bo-o-o-o-oring to the average woman. Strike one.

Books about self-defense written by and for men tend to be a little harsher around the edges. A lot of women are put off by what they see as macho chest-thumping. Strike two.

Books about self-defense written by and for men tend to completely ignore the most common reasons criminals attack women and focus on the reasons criminals attack men. Thus, the advice for avoiding physical attacks in public would be something like, "Don't get into shouting matches, back down if you can," etc etc. Good advice -- but it is very rare for a woman to get into the kind of in-your-face altercation that lead young men to end up getting the crud beat out of them or maybe murdered, and comparatively rather common for young women to engage in other, equally stupid behaviors that are going to get them raped and maybe murdered. Strike three.

All this is apart from the very important social considerations that face a woman who wants to learn the very "unfeminine" art of self-defense. Her mom didn't teach her how to defend herself. In fact, Mom probably told her to stop rough-housing and to act like a young lady while the boys were still tearing around the house. Her friends don't talk about how they defend themselves. In fact, her friends probably think she's a little weird -- not to mention paranoid -- if she develops an interest in defending herself, especially if that interest includes guns. A book written by men, for men, simply underlines and reinforces her perception that what she wants to do (learn to defend herself) is just a really weird thing for a girl.

If mindset is the first lesson, one of the first exercises is coming to realize that women can and do do this stuff, too.

pax
 
Try Massad Ayoob's "The Truth About Self Protection" So many areas are covered: mindset, telephoning the police, home security, firearms, etc. Worth every penny of the 4.95. It was this book that really woke me up. The others mentioned are good reads too.
 
Pax: excellent retort (as usual).

Not to veer too far off topic, but everytime I take women or girls shooting, they usually wind up wringing out the 1911 pretty thoroughly. Frankly I think my PA-63 and even my G-19 have more, or at least sharper, recoil.

Stay safe.
Bob
 
bratch my friend-

May I recommend The Tactical Pistol by Gabe Suarez. Its a very
excellent read for both the newby, and the advanced shooter. Loaded
with good information from a LEO.

I think the cost is $25.00, and available from Palladin Press.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
 
In the Gravest Extreme is dated as far as the hardware goes. Heck, it was written 20 (+) years ago. I think when Mas started running his own school, many things were revealed. :D

"Guns Save Lives" by our member Robert Waters is a good read, though chilling.
 
Bob: Yup she enjoys my 1911 as well.

Ala Dan: I've got the Tactical Pistol but I think it might be a while before I can get her into reading it.

Been meaning to order Armed and Female but haven't gotten around to it.
 
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